ROYAL INSTITUTION AND SOCIETY OF ARTS. 661 



sorrow of Prof. Tyndall his son could never call to mind a single 

 trait of intelligence. The boy was apprenticed to a bookbinder, but 

 in his leisure moments learned " a little chemistry and other parts of 

 philosophy." He had so far advanced as to construct for himself an 

 electrical machine, when his master happened to show this specimen 

 of ingenuity to one of his clients, Mr. Dance, who obtained permission 

 for the apprentice bookbinder to be present at the last four lectures 

 of Davy. The youth listened attentively, and made such notes that 

 he was enabled to write a report of the lectures, which he sent to 

 Davy, with a modest request that he might be employed in the 

 laboratory of the Institution. Davy was struck by the clearness and 

 exactitude of the young bookbinder, and gave him, at the commence- 

 ment of 1813, the post of laboratory assistant. Toward the end of 

 the year he accompanied Davy abroad, as his assistant and secretary. 

 Returning to London in 1815, he recommenced his duties in the lab- 

 oratory of the Institution, was appointed director of the laboratory 

 in 1825, and two years later became one of the regular professors of 

 the Institution, where his scientific researches, like those of Davy, 

 were made at the cost of the society alone, without any assistance on 

 the part of the state. 



Among the many achievements of Faraday are the demonstration 

 of the condensability of many gases, and his investigations into the 

 reciprocal relations of heat, light, magnetism, and electricity. Not 

 the least noble quality of this remarkable man was his marked pref- 

 erence of a pui*ely scientific career over the acquirement of wealth. 

 With the reputation acquired by the year 1832, he might have made 

 several thousands a year by ordinary professional work, but, consid- 

 ering all the time not actually devoted to experiment or to demon- 

 stration as a sacrifice of original investigation, Faraday lived and died 

 poor in the world's goods. 



At the present day the Royal Institution maintains its renown 

 thanks to Prof. Tyndall, who, by his work on " Heat considered as a 

 Mode of Motion," has proved himself no unworthy successor of Davy 

 and Faraday. The late president, Sir Henry Holland, was, on his 

 decease, replaced by the Duke of Northumberland, whose keen interest 

 in scientific inquiry is well known. The important office of Treasurer 

 and Honorary Secretary on which to a great extent the success of 

 the Institution depends is now ably filled by Mr. W. Spottiswoode. 



The Royal Institution, in addition to the attractions of its lect- 

 ures, possesses a model-room, a newspaper-room, a reading-room, and 

 a library of 36,000 volumes, presided over by Mr. Benjamin Vincent. 



As might be expected in a highly-fashionable institution, mem- 

 bership is not acquired at a cheap rate, but candidates who are pro- 

 posed by four members are immediately admitted to the privileges of 

 the Institution, and pay on election ten guineas (five guineas as an 

 admission-fee, and five guineas as the first annual payment). This 



